Five Quick Hits: Michigan Picks Up Impressive Road Win Over Indiana
Indiana went blow for blow with Michigan for a little more than a quarter but eventually the Wolverines were just too much for the Hoosiers. Now, U-M is sitting at 9-2 heading into The Game. Here's a look back at five quick hitters outlining the action against the Hoosiers.
Player Of The Game
Have a day, Shea. Michigan's senior quarterback had a career game last week against Michigan State and improved on it this week on the road against a good Indiana team. Patterson went 20-of-32 for 366 yards and five touchdowns. Unfortunately, he tarnished his amazing performance with a late interception that really didn't hurt U-M, but did hurt his bottom line. Nevertheless, he was dealing all day and definitely looks to be as comfortable with Nico Collins, who caught three of his touchdowns, Donovan Peoples-Jones and Ronnie Bell as he's been all year.
Play Of The Game
There were quite a few nice plays in the game today but this touchdown catch by Donovan Peoples-Jones was the biggest wow moment.
Peoples-Jones finished the day with five catches for 73 yards and that touchdown. He's really been coming on as of late and looks to be poised for a big game against Ohio State next weekend.
Best Freshman
A few freshmen did a pretty good job but the best one had to be Daxton Hill. In his first career start, the former five-star prospect led the team in tackles with eight and intercepted a pass. It's the first time he played more than 30 snaps in a game all year and he certainly made the most of them. If Brad Hawkins is healthy next week, he'll likely be back in the starting lineup but if not, Hill will be just fine.
Pleasant Surprise
Once we found out that Brad Hawkins was going to be out, some concern popped up about defending the Hoosiers' passing attack. The pleasant surprise was that Michigan's defense didn't miss a beat against a very good passing team with Hawkins out of the lineup. I wasn't necessarily worried about Daxton Hill playing in Hawkins' spot, but I was curious about the ripple effect it would have on the rest of the defense with Hill vacating the nickel corner spot. The Wolverines really settled down after the first quarter and held Indiana to just 224 passing yards and did not give up a touchdown through the air.
The Bummer
A lot of players had standout performances and Michigan got a 25-point win on the road against a good Indiana team. That means the positives far outweigh the negatives, but seeing pass rush specialist Josh Uche on the ground injured late in the game certainly qualifies as a bad development. Uche finished the day with five tackles, including two for loss and a sack, so seeing him limp off late in the game is definitely concerning. Hopefully he'll be good to go against the Buckeyes next week but that's definitely a bummer for U-M today.
Who else stood out to you and for what reasons? Does someone different belong in one of these categories? Comment below!!!
